The Short Story Collection
by Neko-sama no Kokoro
Summary: Because sometimes you just need entertainment, so here are some short fics gathered into one, inspired by comments and thoughts from the StopTazmo forums. Comedy, with Allen x Lenalee ones inserted here and there.


D.Gray-Man Drabbles

A/N: These were random inspirations from the StopTazmo forums that I decided to elaborate on. Will be added to in the future, with different chapters.

These were started way back in December, so events may be a little off as they were not completed until early June. Of course, Rinali has short hair, and some Ark events have occurred, although we'll assume everyone escaped happily for this update specifically. You'll be able to see what I did and did not include.

Disclaimer: I don't own the D.Gray-Man characters or else Timcampy would get more screen time (and babies).

* * *

Part I: It's Not Yaoi If It's Crack. 

It was an ordinary day.

Allen was busy emptying the cafeteria. Kanda was nowhere to be found, which was generally a good thing for everyone. Rabi was being berated by Bookman for some reason or another. Rinali was… well, who knows what Rinali was doing in her spare time. It was best for self-preservation not to think of her. Komui was far away from any robot parts and so far, no one had died today. All in all, Reever was having a fairly relaxing day.

That is, until he heard an ominous scream from one of the rooms…

Oh, but those were Komui's private experiment rooms. Never mind. Still a fairly relaxing day.

He continued on with his work until a particular scream caught his attention.

_That wasn't from the experiment floor…_

With a curse, he bolted up from his chair and out the door. That had been from Komui's office!

He could have sworn Komui was sleeping. Well, there's a first time for everything.

Reever threw open the door, preparing for some kind of akuma, and-

"Look who's here! Reever, wouldn't you like to be the first to know the wonderful news?"

Reever blinked. He'd been expecting blood and gore and all he saw were Jerry, grinning, and Komui, bounding towards him…

It was a good time to step back, he decided.

"G-good news?" he asked nervously. If it was Komui, it could mean a Komrin III – or worse…

It could even be… gasp a PAIR of Komrin!

If they managed to breed…

"O-on second thought, I'd rather not know. I'm going back to-"

His hasty exit was interrupted by Komui, who pulled him back.

"But Jerry and I have news!"

Reever sighed. He wouldn't be getting out of this without serious damage in some way, and at least if there was another Komrin he could warn the exorcists before it did something horrible to Rinali. He would never forgive the last one for nearly making her macho! Never!

"All right, so… what is it?"

Komui's face broke out into a big smile.

"We're getting married!"

Yep. There was the serious psychological damage.

* * *

Part II: Runs In The Family 

"Rinali…"

Poke. Poke.

"Rinaliiiii…"

Another poke – yes, the exorcist was fast asleep.

Rabi glanced over at Allen.

"I didn't think she was the type to fall asleep like this."

Allen shrugged. "Runs in the family, I guess. Komui-san always does this…"

"He does?" Rabi frowned thoughtfully. "And he doesn't wake up, either?"

"Well, no… There's only one way to wake him up."

"Which is?" Rabi looked at Allen sideways. "Unless you don't want to wake her up to tell her the _joyful_ news."

Allen sighed. "All right." He bent closer to Rinali and said:

"Rinali, Komui-san is going to get married…"

A few seconds later…

Rabi didn't know how to comfort girls – he was, after all, a teenage boy. And right now, there was a girl who needed comforting.

"Onii-san… how could you get married without telling your little sister…"

Rabi glanced nervously at Allen, still unconscious from when he'd hit the wall after getting hit by Rinali's boots.

"Uh… I'm sure he would have told you as soon as you woke up," he offered.

No good. With a sigh, Rabi wondered why he couldn't find women less attractive. Being gay would be so much easier.

Huh, maybe that's why Komui did it.

"Hey, is that blood?"

Spurt.

"Well, you did hit him pretty hard."

"I did?!"

Yeah, he thought, women are confusing. Then again – he glanced at Rinali, now worrying over the barely-conscious Allen – if women were going for younger men these days, he had a pretty damn good chance with Miranda.

* * *

Part III: The Nest 

Spring was in the air… and everyone knows what that means for animals.

Rabi, unfortunately, was not one of these lucky animals. He – and the two younger members of the Black Order – had been, in the absence of any visible problems, forced into a rather mundane task that had captivated their time for the past week.

Timcampi was missing.

At first, Allen had thought a cat had eaten the poor golem yet again, but no one had seen a cat for the past month, unless some lucky person had gone to another country with a task. And aside from cats, Timcanpi didn't seem to have any natural enemies – except for akuma, and Timcanpi was more likely to be eaten by a nonexistent, overweight cat than an akuma.

The obvious solution was that Timcanpi had just gotten lost somewhere – Rabi thought the golem had been too close to Allen for too long – and needed to be rescued.

And that was precisely what the exorcists were doing: finding the lost Timcampi.

The problem was that in the past week, they'd searched the entire… well, building… and almost all of the surrounding land, without a hint of where Timcampi could be. Could he have run off on purpose, perhaps – leaving altogether to find his maker?

General Cross, that is; Timcanpi couldn't die, after all.

Rabi was just about to turn back when he noticed a scrap of fabric on the ground. Normally, it wouldn't have attracted his attention – after all, exorcists came back injured and probably had bits of clothing or bandages dropping off or something like that – but this was the same colour and texture as…

…the curtains…

"Oi!" he called. "I think I found something!"

Within moments, Allen and Rinali – was it just him, or had they come from the exact same direction? – had run over, and began to examine the cloth.

"Definitely curtains," Rinali agreed. "But what do curtains-"

"Timcanpi eats them," Allen explained.

"I see."

And yes – that was another scrap of curtain! Rabi motioned the pair to be quiet and the three began to follow the now-emerging trail of curtain scraps.

They followed, slowly and silently, for what felt like an eternity – yet was really only about five minutes, actually – until something _very_ interesting emerged directly in front of them.

Perched on a series of bushes, close against a building, was a nest.

A collective sigh of disappointment rose from the trio.

"So it was just a bird's nest after all."

"I suppose. Hey, you don't think a bird ate Timcanpi, do you?"

"What if it was a panda?"

"…Shut up, Allen-kun."

"You know, I've never heard of a bird using curtains to make a nest, especially if they weren't easily available…"

Their chatter was silenced as a small golden thing flew past and into the nest.

It was, of course, Timcanpi. And it became clear as soon as he landed in the pile of scraps that he had not gotten lost – he was, in fact, enjoying a rather active social life.

Active being the key word, Rabi noticed. Aside from the golden golem's companion – a slightly smaller black golem that was presumably one of the communication ones – the nest was full of tiny peeping gold-and-black specks.

"They're so cute..." Rinali whispered.

"He was eating the curtains for a nest?" Allen asked with a disbelieving look.

"Even Timcanpi's getting more than me," Rabi whined.

* * *

Part IV: The Naming 

Rinali cradled one of the tiny Timcanpi in her hands, smiling brightly at it. "He's so cute," she cooed. "I think I'm going to name you…"

"Timcanpi X?" Rabi suggested.

A sharp glare nearly sent him running for cover. "He needs a better name than that! Like…" She frowned thoughtfully. "Pi-chan."

"Cute." Rinali blinked; she hadn't expected Rabi to like that name. With a noncommittal shrug, she placed Pi-chan down in the nest and picked up another Timcanpi with the purpose of naming the second one.

_Hey, the brat hasn't said anything yet._ Rabi glanced over – was he _daydreaming?_

Yes, this was certainly a job for the unused hammer.

Thwack. Whine. Complaint. The expected response.

"You were thinking something about Rinali, weren't you?" Rabi hinted with a grin.

Allen's cheeks reddened, but he still managed an impressive glare. "I wasn't! Just because you're perverted doesn't mean…"

They were cut off by Rinali's naming of the next baby: Kin-chan (obviously resembling the father physically). Rinali wasn't very creative with names, was she?

"I hope you don't name your future children with such uncreativity," Rabi muttered.

"Huh?" Rinali turned away from the third Timcanpi – a black one, this time – to look at the red-haired exorcist. "My names aren't very good?"

"Well…" He gestured to the babies. "What if you name your children…"

"Like Ri-chan or Shiro-chan or something?" Apparently, neither Rinali nor Allen noticed that slip – clearly, Something was going on that Rabi wasn't aware of. "I don't plan on having children just yet anyway."

"Ow." Oh look, a Timcanpi had bitten the brat's finger. Perfect timing.

"Are you all right, Allen-kun?" Rinali picked up the violating Timcanpi and cradled it in her hands. "He's just scared, I think. Do you want to name him?"

Allen couldn't keep that colour down, could he? "Nacchi… that's a cute name," he muttered.

Rinali's face lit up. "That's a great name!"

Rabi decided he would never understand females. First the descriptive names, now the random ones…

No, he thought, shaking his head, that wasn't right. Women were fairly normal – otherwise, why would he like them? It was just Rinali that wasn't.

As he was turning to leave, he felt a slight pressure on his head…

Rabi reached up and plucked the baby from his hair. It was black, and resembled the typical communicator golems much more than the other nestlings… except for that long, feathery tail, it might have been one. Well, and it was miniature – and a cute one at that.

Even a womanizer like Rabi couldn't help but love a baby pet.

* * *

Part V: Murphy's Law 

Miranda was normally a depressed person. It was obvious even to the untrained eye.

No one had suspected, however, that underneath the depression of failing at a hundred jobs, lurked something darker: the paranoia of the insane.

Crowley certainly hadn't, until an out-of-breath Miranda – hair down, of course – came running towards him with a look on her face he'd never seen before. In fact, she'd reverted to a time before being an Exorcist (Allen and Rinali would, of course, have noticed).

She couldn't even speak. Her head turned constantly as her eyes searched for something hidden in the shadows. The blood had drained from her face and the dark circles around her eyes were nearly black – had she not been sleeping?

"Um…" He couldn't think of anything to say. Fortunately, she spoke first.

"He's there," she hissed, partially to herself. "I know he is – he's been following me around for the past week, he has to be there, I wish he'd just go away-"

Miranda has a stalker? This was certainly news.

"It isn't an akuma," he said, trying to be reassuring.

"I know it isn't!" she snapped. "It's _him!_"

Crowley was confused for a moment, until he saw what the trembling finger was pointing at.

There, in the shadows behind a pillar, was a human-shaped silhouette – and a distinct spike of red hair.

* * *

Part VI: The True Innocence of Cross Marian (Bonus: Rabi's Other Weakness) 

It was a boring day – the trio were actually thinking of their mission.

"He's not dead," Allen kept insisting – all the time while looking rather depressed. They were sitting around a low table in Rinali's room (which, Allen had noted, featured a large window and balcony, and a floor covered in mats – much more comfortable than his own room, although it was really just temporary…).

"Why did we stop looking, anyway?" Rabi asked. "We were in the right country!"

Rinali gave him a sharp glare. "I thought you remembered everything – because the Earl destroyed Edo and we got caught!"

"And we lost his trail?"

"He's not- yes. And isn't that a good thing – we could have met Jasdevi earlier."

The three shuddered; that was not a fond memory.

"So…" They were interrupted by a chirping sound. Rabi promptly stood up –

"Kuro-tan's hungry; I'm going to get him something to eat."

"Kuro-tan…" Rinali sighed. "You said I had bad names?"

Rabi looked defensive. "He's black, so it's a perfect name for him!"

"You said Kin-chan was a bad name," Allen pointed out – he still remembered that? Rabi hadn't even spoken to him.

"Well…" Rabi shifted the now slightly larger Timcanpi baby to the other hand. "Black is a cooler name than Gold, isn't it?"

"Er…" No? He thought it was, but… "And anyway," Allen continued, "you stole your name for me from Kanda."

_Moyashi isn't mean enough,_ Rabi decided.

"And Sachiko-san, too – that modified akuma," Rinali pointed out. "You called her Chomesuke."

"It's how she spoke!"

"And Crowley became Crow-chan," Allen pointed out.

Rinali smiled deviously. "Could it be that you're… bad with names?"

Indeed – but Rabi wasn't going to reveal that to the others. "So, Kuro-tan is- hey, is someone in the hallway?" While the others were looking, he decided, he'd run.

"Hey, yeah – there _is_." He'd been right… wow.

Soon, voices could be heard:

"…and I know you haven't been back in a while, and don't really like it, but I assure you, we will do everything to make your stay comfortable and better than you are used to." That was Komui – who was he talking to? "It won't take more than a day to fix your Innocence"

An Exorcist – but there weren't more than thirteen, and three were currently listening to the conversation. It wasn't a voice Rabi recognized, anyway.

"I'll make sure not to use it on you," the other voice promised.

Rinali frowned; the voice seemed familiar but she just couldn't determine who it belonged to. She turned to Allen – who was completely frozen. He looked as if he was remembering something very bad indeed.

"Allen-kun?" she murmured, gently nudging him with her shoulder. "Is everything all right?"

"It's him," he whispered. "I didn't want to meet with him, and I never thought he'd come here…"

"…and while you're here, perhaps a meeting of the Generals is in order?"

Rinali gasped. "General Cross?" she asked. "You mean…"

Allen nodded sadly. "He's here."

"Ah – Rinali," Komui started, poking his head into the room. "I could really use your help, if you don't mind? I have to fix an Innocence and you're such a good helper"

"Um…" She stood up, offering Allen an apologetic look. "I'll be right there."

Komui smiled. "Would anyone else like to come along? If it's not too traumatizing, that is."

Allen shook his head furiously – Rinali didn't think Cross was the only reason.

"Sure," Rabi said, turning away from the door – oh, he was still here? "I wonder what the General's Innocence looks like, anyway."

"Wouldn't Allen-kun know?" Rinali pointed out. Allen remained silent – more traumatizing memories, presumably, and Rinali always felt upset whenever that happened. It was definitely a good time to help Komui-niisan. "Ah, so… maybe we should go fix that other Innocence now," she continued, wearing a fixed smile. "What kind is it?"

"Oh, that – it's a weapon type." He sighed. "It's in the form of a lantern, and the glass is broken, and it won't reform into its natural state otherwise – the original user died, you see…"

"I see. I'll be there in a minute, all right nii-san?" She smiled hesitantly at him. Komui, satisfied, turned back and closed the door behind him. The three teenagers immediately gave each other a shocked and worried look.

"How did he get back here without us?" Rinali hissed.

"I don't know!" Allen protested. "He hates the Order; he'd never be here voluntarily."

"Well…" Rabi looked thoughtful. "Perhaps there's some other reason."

"He ran out of money?" Rinali gave him a skeptical look.

"Or women?" That earned Allen a strange look.

"Or maybe the Generals need to talk," Rabi said. "Not everything has a hidden motive, you know. Maybe he discovered something in Japan that the Order needed to hear so that we don't all… die or something."

Rinali nodded. "About the Ark, maybe."

"…I think we learned more than he did," Allen said quietly. The other two nodded, and said nothing; those were definitely not memories they wanted to think of. For a few minutes, there was silence, until Rinali suddenly jumped up from the low table.

"Nii-san!" she gasped. "I said I'd help him!"

Rabi nodded and turned back to the door. "I'll go with you." They looked back at Allen.

"Eh…" He sighed. "Just as long as I don't have to see Komui-san's repairs, all right?"

And with that, the three made their way through the halls and down the stairs.

"You know," Rinali said slowly, "we still don't know what General Cross's Innocence is."

"Indeed." Rabi grinned and turned to Allen, who shook his head.

"Don't look at me; I never found out either," he said quickly. "Any training that occurred only related to my arm. He never used his Innocence."

"It must have something to do with converting akuma," Rabi mused. "After all, he can do that; Chomesuke told us so, and if Allen's Innocence can work as a conversion…"

"Killing," he said quickly, not wanting to be associated with Cross. "Killing the Noah aspect."

"…then maybe it can work for akuma, too?"

"But what is there to kill?" Rinali asked. "In akuma, I mean."

Allen made a sound of agreement. "They're like dolls. They're not human in any way."

"Well…" Rabi shrugged. "I don't know; I'm just brainstorming. Anyway-"

They paused. A strange noise was coming from one of Komui's unused rooms, and the door edges were glowing green.

"What's that?" Rinali hissed, grabbing onto Allen's arm. Rabi, for once, didn't even bother to comment. "It sounds like someone is in pain…"

"And?" Allen looked at her strangely. "That's unusual, for these rooms?"

"Yes!" she protested. "That sounds like a normal human, fully conscious, and, unlike everything else, they're talking about money!"

_...So the pain and pleading for an end, those are normal…?_

Of course, being curious teenagers, they decided to have a look. Rabi slowly turned the door handle and opened it slightly; in typical cartoon style, heads on top of one another, they turned to look inside the room.

As it turned out, no one was actually in pain. Instead, a young worker from the Medical Section was – well, she was on a bed and wearing little more than a shirt – Rabi quickly covered the eyes of the other two. Above her stood a red-haired man, also wearing very little, although including a hat this time. He also was holding a strange dark rod with a clear, shiny crystal on the end. The entire rod was glowing an eerie green colour.

"General Cross," he breathed, horrified. "What are you- I take that back, what the hell is _that_?" Rabi nodded towards the rod, as his hands were still occupied.

"Oh, this?" Cross grinned and held it towards the woman. "It's my Innocence."

The pale-haired young woman inhaled deeply and murmured, "I do have some extra money I was saving, General, but you certainly need it more than I do. After all, that was a very… impressive trick you showed me." Her smile was radiant, but something was wrong…

"Thank you, Lenina." He smiled pleasantly and the glow faded. The woman immediately collapsed on the bed in a deep sleep.

"What was…" Rabi's eyes were wide. "Did you… _hypnotize_ her into sleeping with you?" The other two Exorcists gasped.

"Of course not!" Cross protested furiously. "I don't need the use of an Innocence to get laid! It was for money, the money!"

"So that's how he did it," Allen murmured, anger clearly present in his voice.

"You hypnotize women and steal their money?" Rinali asked.

"Precisely."

There was a long pause. Finally, Rabi broke the silence.

"Is your Innocence… is that a _pimp cane_?"

* * *

Hmm, I wonder what those Generals are gathering to discuss. 

I don't know why I named a baby Nacchi. It's definitely a combination of reading Fullmoon wo Sagashite and listening to Hello!Project. In other words, it really is not important.

On that note, why _is_ Rinali naming the babies in Japanese? Hmm…

Note: Golems belong with golems, not with humans – sure, someone mentioned it once, but I thought it was a joke. So Timcanpi found a golem to love. In future editions, he might get a Tease. Or Lero.

This isn't the end, so I hope you enjoy the slightly more romantic ending to the drabbles!

* * *

Endnotes: Death By Fangirl 

_Exorcist's Headquarters: 2007_

Normally, it would be a regular day – breakfast, check e-mail, brunch, train a little, lunch, do something with friends, tea, a summons from the supervisor, dinner, maybe some television or internet again, not-yet-midnight snack, and then sleep. With breaks for midnight and post-midnight snacks, of course.

But today, unfortunately, would not be a normal day for Allen Walker.

It started off as a normal day – nothing unusual at all – until mid-morning, as he was sitting down for brunch. As usual, Jerry had cooked an excellent meal with help from volunteers – looked like Kanda this time; had he insulted the food again? – and Allen was certainly looking forward to eating.

He was about to take a bite of French toast when Rinali came running in, nearly bumping into an exiting staff member on her way to his table.

"Allen-kun!" she said, out of breath, yet sounding very worried. "There's something I think you _really_ need to see!"

He stared at her in surprise, and a little disappointment. "Can't I eat first?"

"No!" She grabbed his arm and started to pull him away from his tray.

"But the food…"

"It can wait! I told you, you have to see this!"

Seeing the worry in her eyes, Allen decided that obliging Rinali was far more important than eating. He could eat it when he got back – maybe as part of an early lunch. Not that he'd sacrifice lunch, though. It was one of the important six-plus meals of the day!

"So what's this important thing that I absolutely have to see?" he asked as she pulled him along the hallways to her room. "Is it a good thing?"

"No, it really isn't," she told him without looking back.

Oh dear – if she'd pulled him away from brunch for something bad, it must be a very bad thing indeed. Maybe Timcampi got squished permanently this time, or a cat had nearly digested the poor golem? Nah… not quite bad enough, although the second option could be a possibility…

It wasn't until Rinali closed the door to her room behind them that he realized where he was – and what was in front of him.

Allen sighed. "Rinali, did your computer break again? Because you know I'm not very good with-"

"Not _that_." She grabbed his hand again and led him over to the computer, motioning for him to sit down. Rinali then pointed to the screen.

"You want to show me a webpage," he said flatly.

"It's not just _any_ webpage. See…" Rinali fidgeted nervously. "I stumbled across this website a few months ago, and it has, well, stories about existing or fictional people that others have written – it's called fanfiction."

"Okay."

"And these writers are mostly teenage girls interested in romance."

"Like you?" Allen got a sharp glare for that.

"And, well… I found some things about… us."

"Y-you mean… _us_? Like… you and… and…"

Rinali pretended not to notice the interesting shade of red that Allen's normally pale face was turning. With a sigh, she shook her head. "No… not usually including me – mostly about you, actually." She jabbed a finger at the screen. "Just read it."

_She looks really cute when she's upset about something that isn't me…_ Allen turned to the screen and looked.

A few seconds later, Rinali wondered if he'd gone into a coma or something, because it seemed that the younger exorcist had stopped breathing altogether.

"Allen-kun?" She placed a hand on his shoulder and turned him away from the screen. "Are you all right?"

And then there was the scream, the scream that echoed throughout the whole building…

It took five minutes for Rinali to calm Allen to the point where she could understand his insane babblings.

"That's SICK, that's- that's just plain wrong, how could anyone, that's-"

"ALLEN-KUN." He blinked, turning to face her – was that soft thing he felt on his arm really-

"Allen-kun, are you all right?"

"Y-yeah… well, no, I'm not…"

"Well, you're calm now." She released him and turned the computer monitor away. "You see what I mean?"

Allen nodded, avoiding the evil monitor by keeping his eyes on her face. (At least, he told himself it was the monitor he was avoiding. Maybe he'd been spending too much time with Rabi; the older exorcist wasn't a model of innocent behaviour.) "Can't we do anything?"

Rinali shook her head. "Not unless we take over the website, but even then…" She sighed, looking discouraged. "I just thought you'd like to know."

"That people think I'm gay?" He raised an eyebrow.

"N-no…" Did she sound unsure? Not a good thing. "That people… want you to be, I suppose – and so you can avoid those fangirls on the street."

"They're on the streets now?!" Allen rushed to the window, attempting to peer outside while remaining hidden by the wall. "Is that one?" He pointed to a random girl. "And that? They're everywhere!" he finished in a hushed, but panicked, whisper.

Rinari sighed and pulled down the blinds. "Not every girl is a yaoi fangirl."

Allen just had to ask the question that had been worrying him since he discovered this:

"Are you?"

That calm stare unnerved him for a moment. What if… but no, she was shaking her head. "I don't think it's right to force people into something that… they're not," she murmured. Did she sound sad for a moment there?

"Yeah," he muttered.

She shrugged, then glanced at the door. "Hey – I need to get some more coffee for my brother – do you want to come with me?"

"Sure. I need to get out anyways." Not exactly true, but Allen did need more of a social life, and spending time with Rinali was preferable to spending time with… well, pretty much everyone else (especially Kanda. He wouldn't be able to think of the guy without throwing up now).

Rinali smiled.

They'd gotten the coffee and were on their way back to the HQ when the fangirls appeared.

It started off as a faint noise – masked by the cars and crowds, of course, but Allen could have sworn he heard screams. Rinari looked at him oddly, then continued walking. Allen decided it was his imagination and moved to catch up to her.

And then they saw Them: Fangirls.

Rinali gripped Allen's arm tightly with her free hand. "They're here," she whispered. "They're after you."

Allen was more scared than he'd ever been in his life, including those times with the akuma and the Earl, but he somehow managed to appear calm (Rinali's presence might have helped). "You should run," he muttered to her. "They're after me, right?"

"Didn't you see the ones pairing me off with someone as a secondary character? I can't leave you alone to face them, Allen-kun! We're friends, aren't we?"

"…Yeah, sure." He'd heard that before, hadn't he? "So… are we running?"

"On the count of three."

"One- THREE."

Rinali was still holding onto his arm when they turned and ran.

It felt like an eternity, running from the fangirls – the only thing that kept Allen sane, he thought, was Rinali's hand on his arm – actually, his hand; it had slipped down and now her fingers were wrapped tightly around his – it didn't mean anything, they were escaping evil, and if he slowed down to think now…

They had almost reached the safety of the HQ when they accidentally stumbled into a dark alley. Everyone knew those were a definite dangerous spot.

Of course, it was where the fangirls finally caught up.

Allen felt tense – what if they caught Rinari? Or him? What would they do, with their crazed minds, manipulating people into…

"Proof," Rinali murmured.

"What?" He blinked. What was she talking about? They were doomed!

"Hm?" She glanced up at him, then over to the fangirls. They were standing still in the opening of the alley – one or two slowly moving forward, but waiting to see what the pair would do next. "Oh, nothing – just thinking about how anyone could force something on someone…"

"They just do it, don't they?" Allen wasn't going to think about that. Clear mind, clear mind…

"I see." What was that smile for? Was Rinali going to betray him to – no, she said she didn't like that kind of thing! Clear the mind, think of nothingness…

And suddenly, whatever remnants of thought that hadn't been cleared dissipated as her hands touched his cheeks and he felt a new, warm pressure on his lips…

Grey eyes widened. Was that- it couldn't be… and… _tongue?_...

Before he could even think of what was going on, it was gone, and Rinali was giving him a sly smile. With a wink, she dashed off down the end of the alley.

Allen didn't even hear the fangirl screams: "There's his soul! GET IT!"

_Definitely_ not a normal day.

But still a very good one.

-end-


End file.
